Casino gamble pays dividends for Singapore

AFP, SINGAPORE

Just one year after opening its first casino, Singapore has emerged as Asia’s hottest new gambling capital with a revamped cityscape and billions of dollars pouring into the economy.

“Singapore has made a dramatic entry to the casino gaming market,” financial consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a report estimating the city-state’s casino gaming market at US$2.8 billion last year.

The first casino opened in -Malaysian-controlled Resorts World Sentosa on Feb. 14 last year, with US-based Las Vegas Sands following two months later as the world economy was still clawing itself out of recession.

Resorts World Sentosa also boasts Southeast Asia’s first Universal Studios theme park, while Marina Bay Sands has become an architectural icon with its three curving towers topped off by a “SkyPark” shaped like a sleek ocean liner.

Thanks in large measure to the casino complexes, tourist arrivals in Singapore last year hit 11.6 million, breaking by far the previous record of 10.3 million set in 2007.

Most of the visitors came from the Asia-Pacific region, with China, Australia, Indonesia and India together accounting for 53 percent.

PricewaterhouseCoopers predicted that Singapore would overtake South Korea and Australia this year to become the second-largest Asia-Pacific casino market, behind traditional leader Macau.

“In 2011, with a full year’s operation for both resorts, we expect revenues to reach [US]$5.5 billion, growing to [US]$8.3 billion by 2014,” it said.

When the government lifted a ban on casinos, they were -euphemistically called “integrated resorts” (IRs) amid an outcry from civic and church groups worried about the social impact of large-scale gambling.

“Definitely with the opening of the casinos, we have seen an increase in gambling addicts seeking help,” said Tan Lye Keng, executive director of One Hope Center, a Christian welfare organization for gambling addicts.

He said that the S$100 (US$78) entry levy imposed on Singaporean citizens and permanent residents failed to deter gamblers.

However, the resorts have also created thousands of new jobs for Singaporeans and tourists rave over non-gambling attractions like Universal Studios.

“Visitor arrivals have really come in stronger and I think that’s a direct spinoff from having the IRs on shore,” Barclays Capital senior regional economist Leong Wai Ho said.

He said the resorts were contributing in the region of 0.3 percent to 0.4 percent of GDP, with the potential for that to increase to 0.7 percent in the near future.

In the latest financial statement issued by parent company Las Vegas Sands, Marina Bay Sands was shown to have raked in US$1.02 billion in revenues from its casino operations last year. Resorts World Sentosa declined to disclose specific casino revenue numbers, but its total revenue stood at US$1.53 billion for the nine-month period ending Sept. 30 last year.